Ozil switched to his side because he was troubling him more with the Skills. Ronaldo doesn't run at players as much as he used to these days.
Rafael da Silva | 2010-14 Performances
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Don't even think it was that, it's a very gifted front four that will interchange, Ozil had joy against Rafael and no doubt decided to hang around a bit.
Perhaps my own view on Rafael meant I read too much into it but I thought he was talking about Ronaldo bullying weak right backs. Of course he can't be mentioning Rafael directly otherwise he'll piss off Sir Alex again. This is it in its entirety:
I read it as he'll play/start up against the weakest defender. He'll play on the left wing up against Rafa and try to bully him, if that doesn't work he'll try somewhere else.
Regardless, there's no argument I can make here that will change anyone's mind. My view of Rafael has always been in contrast with the majority of United fans for whatever reason. I think he's going to be a top class right back like everyone else. I thought as much (and I think I said as much) after that debut v Peterborough. I just think he's an infuriating defender at the moment. His biggest issue in the beginning was diving in and being taken out of the game far too easily and he's sorted that, I think he'll do the same with the rest of his game. I just don't think he's progressing as quickly as everyone else does.
I don't get this talk about Rafael doing a specific job on Ronaldo and getting dragged out of position...I swear he does it every game. Getting tight to his man is what he's good at. Him being a bit rash diving in too much can be put down to nerves but not that. It was only more apparent yesterday because Ronaldo's obviously very clever with his movement and figured out how to drag Rafael into places he shouldn't/didn't want to be. Just my view, I'm happy to agree to disagree.
This.
I didn't feel Ronaldo or Real targetted Rafael at all. He just had one of those games that he has every now and then.
And Neville's comment certainly wasn't aimed at Rafael.
Brwned, think about this.
Do you really think Ronaldo looks at it each time before the game and tells Jose where he would like to start due to which player he feels is weakest?
I think it's fairly obvious what Neville meant, Ronaldo will start from the left (as he always does) and then move around trying to find the weak link, as he did with Maicon.
In the first moments of the game Rafael followed Ronaldo all the way to the other wing, this is not something he does every game.
Do you really think Ronaldo looks at it each time before the game and tells Jose where he would like to start due to which player he feels is weakest?
I think it's fairly obvious what Neville meant, Ronaldo will start from the left (as he always does) and then move around trying to find the weak link, as he did with Maicon.
In the first moments of the game Rafael followed Ronaldo all the way to the other wing, this is not something he does every game.
I wouldn't call him infuriating, he just needs to realise that he can't win every single challenge. He was getting dragged all over the gaff against Everton, in fact I've seen him end up in the Left-Back season position at times! The thing was even though he's good at it he needs to adapt his game for certain opposition. I also think last night he played Ronaldo, the man rather than Ronaldo, the player. As a Portuguese speaker I have no doubt Ronaldo helped the twins settle down in England a lot. The flaws in his game are nothing maturity can't iron out.
@Brwned
Ronaldo played a lot more centrally yesterday but imo not to drag Rafa out of position primarily.
The reason he did that is in the quote above he was targeting our weakest point and with Rio and Evans as CBs he knew he could hurt us in the air because non of the defenders we had on the field yesterday are a match form him in that regard.
If Vidic would have played yesterday I doubt we would have seen Ronnie trying to do that a lot.
Ronaldo played a lot more centrally yesterday but imo not to drag Rafa out of position primarily.
The reason he did that is in the quote above he was targeting our weakest point and with Rio and Evans as CBs he knew he could hurt us in the air because non of the defenders we had on the field yesterday are a match form him in that regard.
If Vidic would have played yesterday I doubt we would have seen Ronnie trying to do that a lot.
That was a simply horrific performance even worse than his effort in the Olympic final. It's alright looking good as a wannabe winger against Fulham at home, quite another thing when he's asked to defend properly against good teams.
He's better going forward, but always thought Fabio is better defensively. Should have done a good old switcharoo yesterday. 
No surprise you're back Pete, have a bad 1/2 hour against a few of the best players in the World did he?
As you well know, he has defended very well against plenty of good teams this season. No least away against Manchester City, superb performance from him.
His 2nd half last night was exemplary. A better half than any Arsenal full-back has managed against a top team all season.
Do you remember Johnny Evans performance away to Ac Milan in 2010?
Rafael was up against some of the best attacking talent in the world. He will learn a lot just like Evans did.
You are talking like Neville said: " Rafael is United's worst defender, so Real Madrid will target him", eventhough he said that biggest danger comes from Rafael's side BECAUSE Ronaldo plays there, and not because Rafael isn't good defender. If Evra was our right back I'm sure he would say the same.
And even if he did say that(he isn't but let's say he did), I have rarely seen Neville blaming any of Evra, Rio or Evans during his last two years as pundit, even last year when Evra had his probably worst season for us.
And one question I would like you to answer me is why they didn't target him in second half, after he had poor first half and was already on yellow card, but instead of that Ronaldo spent whole second half playing central and on right wing, I don't think he playd one minute on left(rafael's side) in second half?
edit: Just saw your last post, fair enough from you, but I would still like you to answer me question I asked you.
So how does he manage to so regularly shut down his opponent when playing good teams? He's 22 and has already got the better of many of the world's best. Even at such a young age, he is already a level or two above your favourite right-back Bacary Sagna, who is 30, and going downhill rapidly. Ignominy in the French league or some other backwater awaits, whilst Rafael is destined for the top. Just as I predicted a couple of years back to much derision from Arsenal fans on here.
I can imagine you sitting watching all our big games this year waiting for Rafael to fail, and thinking 'shit, he's had another good game, I can't go into his thread to slag him off.' Then he has a poor 20 minutes against the world's most expensive attack, yet remains solid for the rest of the game, and you come crawling out.
You're nothing if predictable.
To be fair... the defending overall was always going to improve once we sat back.
Quite simply because he stood up to the test and defended well. I'm not saying he's incapable of defending well - he's been excellent against Bale all game on more than one occasion - I'm just saying he can be exposed. So can Evra too, in fact I'd absolutely agree he's a better defender than Evra these days (despite his improvement this season). I just think both are average-decent defenders at the moment. I'm not expecting Rafael to become an excellent defender either, I know many disagree but IMO Evra was only ever a good defender at his peak. Once Rafael gets there I'll be delighted.
Agreed, Brwned
Also, pete's getting a lot of grief here that has the feel of protesting too much. His point was never the Rafael's shit at football, it's that his defending will get found out at the top level. That's exactly what happened last night and it wasn't the first time, he cost us the quarter-final against Bayern three years ago. Of course he's very young and will improve, but defenders who are already top-level just don't dive in and get turned like that over and over again.
Jonny Evans, though, may or may not 'always have a mistake in him' as pete avers, but he looked the part against some of the best in the world last night and that happens increasingly often.
Also, pete's getting a lot of grief here that has the feel of protesting too much. His point was never the Rafael's shit at football, it's that his defending will get found out at the top level. That's exactly what happened last night and it wasn't the first time, he cost us the quarter-final against Bayern three years ago. Of course he's very young and will improve, but defenders who are already top-level just don't dive in and get turned like that over and over again.
Jonny Evans, though, may or may not 'always have a mistake in him' as pete avers, but he looked the part against some of the best in the world last night and that happens increasingly often.
Well pete could do us a favour by not popping in whenever they have a poor performance, just comes across as poor a WUM. Also I'd say there was a key difference between last night and Bayern. He was great against Bayern but got sent off and last night he got roasted in the First Half and was on a yellow. He pulled it together in the second half, the maturity is coming slowly but surely.
Pete is getting laughed at for many reasons, like where was he when Rafeal was one of the best players on the pitch earlier this season at the Etihad, against a top team?
He waits for Rafael to have a poor 30 mins, like against Reading or last night and comes in as though he's been proven right, well he hasn't, I've seen Rio Ferdinand have a nightmare against Gareth Bale, I've seen Vidic get murdered by Torres... does that mean they don't cut it at the top level? Or does it just mean that sometimes, at the top level, the attackers will get the better of even the best defenders. Rafael has proven this season, that he is a superb right back, no question.
No. Vidic got done by a brilliant player a couple of times, at a high cost. But what Rafa was doing in that first half was not just having a bad game. No top defender sells himself like that time and again.
So which fullbacks are better than average-decent defenders? A couple at most
Not really no. He's never been a great defender.
Cole used to be dodgy but sorted himself out.
Again, being beaten several times by a good winger is not what I'm talking about. It's doing stuff like charging in on a player in a non-threatening position on the goal-line, trying to hump him off the ball, getting turned with ease, and falling over, creating a very dangerous situation for your own team out of nothing.
Wow! Patrice Evra was the best left-back in the World for about 3 years.
He was officially the Greatest Player in the History of the Universe, but he still wasn't top class at defending.
Better than Rafa as he is now though, i'll give you that.
Better than Rafa as he is now though, i'll give you that.
Ronaldo doesn't target shit.. You believe he is thinking about "hmm who's the weakest defender today? It's this one ok I'll play there!" People tend to analyse the game way too hard. A natural thought process would be to get on the ball as much as he can so he switches places to get involved more.. These kind of things. Not about personnel.
You can be the best full-back in the World without being great defensively.
No you can't.
Emphasis on 'great'.
I was fuming at comments from Souness in the Times on Sunday. He offered the opinion that Rafael would be our weak link, would get himself booked, be too rash, have to be substituted and we'd be better off starting with Jones there. How I mocked him! Have you actually seen him this year, I asked? How outdated! And then the fecking idiot plays like a caricature of himself for 35 minutes.
His performance in the second half was a vast improvement and the fact that he lasted and saw out the initial horror bodes well. He's got to learn from it. A repeat performance at Old Trafford could be calamitous.
His performance in the second half was a vast improvement and the fact that he lasted and saw out the initial horror bodes well. He's got to learn from it. A repeat performance at Old Trafford could be calamitous.
He's a left defender Pletch and was the best in the World at that role, hence he was a top defender. Rafael will also be a top defender, if he isn't already.
Has Dani Alves ever in your estimation been the best Right Full-Back in the world? Would you class him as a top defender?
It's pretty obvious that every now then you'll come up against a player that you think "right, I've got the beating of his lad, I'm just going to drive at him all day and even if I lose it a couple of times I can tear him apart the rest of the time" whereas up against others you'll realise "ok, he can match me for pace/strength/guile so maybe I'll try and drift off him and get the ball in other areas". The "targeting the weakest link" is just a natural extension of that. If Ronaldo sees someone he can really expose of course he'll pay special attention to him.
Regardless, Gary Neville's the one who played with the man over 100 times, you'd think he knows what Ronaldo's thinking better than you do.
Evra was always more of a wing-back. When he was at his best we played a lopsided formation, with an orthodox winger-full back combo on the right and then Evra playing much of the time ahead of a tucked-in Giggs/Nani/Rooney/whoever, with a massive great gap at left-back half the time.
Although I spent probably on average 4 months of each of those years screaming "Where the feck's Evra?!?!", I also suspected it wasn't really his fault as he'd clearly been told to play as a wing-back. But then it carried on happening after we reverted to 4-4-2.
Although I spent probably on average 4 months of each of those years screaming "Where the feck's Evra?!?!", I also suspected it wasn't really his fault as he'd clearly been told to play as a wing-back. But then it carried on happening after we reverted to 4-4-2.
God no, that's why he's played as a wing-back. But still, when he plays as a proper right back, yes he's a top defender. Has done a great job on Ronaldo a few times.
Just not true Pletch.
My final say on the Rafael matter is that every defender has a bad game or some bad moments, especially playing against the best and Rafael had a poor 30 minutes last night. Cafu got turned inside out by Ji-Sung Park back in the day, and yes even the top defenders have nightmares. Gary Neville vs. the goat is another example of a top defender having a mare.
What Rafael did brilliant was to recover from that poor 30 minutes to put in a excellent mature display from there on.
What Rafael did brilliant was to recover from that poor 30 minutes to put in a excellent mature display from there on.
When they have the ball yeah.
I'm prepared to excuse Rafael's faults because he's so fecking lovable. Look at him!
We're talking about Barcelona.
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